We got the chance to speak with Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom Development team members Vince Harron, Technical Director & John Troy, Lead Designer. These guys are part of the team working on the new Playstation 3 title, and they answer our questions.First of all, for our readers who are unfamiliar with the lore behind the Untold Legends series, please give us a brief rundown of the story behind the Dark Kingdom game.In Dark Kingdom, you play as a member of the Dragon’s Shade, an elite squad of mystical warriors that fights for the Kingdom of Dureth. While away on a campaign to quell an uprising, your king has been corrupted by dark forces. The soldiers have transformed into hideous monsters and the people are enslaved. In order to save your kingdom, you must betray your king.

We got to preview the title at E3 this year, and although it was certainly a step forward from PSP, it did not have that extra oomph that marks some of the PS3 games. Just how close is the game to completion, and do you still have work to do, graphically and (otherwise)?What we showed at E3 was still a fairly early version. We have a few months with a lot of work to do before it is finished. We only showed one of the characters at E3, for example, who didn’t have his full range of animations and abilities yet. The final version will have plenty of improvements and optimizations to the graphics and gameplay.

Please tell us what differentiates this game from the PSP series of Dark Kingdom titles.We’re able to do a lot more with the PS3 than we could on the PSP. The graphics especially are much better than the previous games. The PS3 is also enabling us to use the Havok engine, giving a much more realistic feel to the objects you interact with in the environment and the animation of the characters. When it comes to gameplay, we added an additional attack button with a host of attack combos for each character. We also added the ability for the player to jump, dodge, pick up objects, and even throw enemies. This lets us create all kinds of content that we couldn’t do on previous titles.

There will be three playable heroes in the game, can you give us a bit of background on each and tell us what their specialty is.Golan Kor, the Warrior, comes from a large family with a long record of service to the kingdom. He is the strongest of the three characters and is best in the thick of battle, overwhelming enemies with his giant hammer. His special abilities call upon the powers of earth and lightning.Zala, the Scout, was orphaned as a child and sees the Dragon’s Shade as her only real family. She is the most agile character, using fast and acrobatic attacks with her twin blades to devastate her opponents. Her abilities focus on the power of stealth, deception and poison.Malakesh, the Mage, is the most veteran member of the Dragon’s shade and very ambitious, hoping one day to become the grand sorcerer of the kingdom. He is physically frail, but has the strongest magic and can call elemental powers of destruction on his foes. He can hold his own in combat with his staff as well.